NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s had strong results for Modern American Art, the second edition of an innovative sale format focused on Modernism, with a live auction on 18 April, which totaled $13,286,378, selling for 98% by low estimate and 82% by lot. The sale’s top lot was Thomas Hart Benton’s White Horse, which realized $2,228,000.

The day saw four record-breaking sales, led by rare-to-market female modernists, Florine Stettheimer and Ida O’Keeffe. Stettheimer’s Tulips Under a Canopy made $1,033,200, smashing her existing record of $375,000 from 2016. Flowers (Gardenias in a Pitcher) by Ida O’Keeffe sold for $302,400, soaring nearly sixteen-times higher than the artist’s previous record of $19,000 from earlier this year. Ida’s elder sister, Georgia O’Keeffe also attracted fervent bidding, as Blue Morning Glory achieved $1,744,000 – more than double its low estimate. The records continued with Charles Goeller’s The Blue Box which sold for $23,940, surpassing a record sale of $17,600, also at Christie’s in 2023. Henry Fitch Taylor’s Landscape sold for $17,640, almost eight-times a 2016 record of $2,254.

Paige Kestenman, Senior Specialist of Christie’s American Art Department, commented: “It’s wonderful to once again achieve record-breaking results for women artists at Christie’s. The enthusiasm around the stellar examples by Florine Stettheimer and Ida O’Keeffe was a testament not only to their rarity in the market, but also their deserved places among the pantheon of great American Modernist artists.”

Tylee Abbott, Head of Christie’s American Art Department, added: “It was also a great day for American Illustration, which was led by Maxfield Parrish’s masterwork, Ottaquechee River, at $1,502,000, as well as works by Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth. This genre consistently inspired some of the most fervent competitive bidding of the sale.”